Cionus ungulatus Germar, 1821

Košťál, Michael & Caldara, Roberto, 2019, Revision of Palaearctic species of the genus Cionus Clairville (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cionini), Zootaxa 4631 (1), pp. 1-144 : 56-58

32. Cionus ungulatus Germar, 1821

Figs 32 a–f.

Cionus ungulatus Germar, 1821: 302 . Reitter, 1904: 54. Wingelmüller, 1914: 191; 1921: 105; 1937: 171. Hustache, 1932: 336. Caldara, 2013: 124. Alonso-Zarazaga et al., 2017: 186.

Cionus costipennis Schultze, 1899: 192 . Reitter, 1904: 64 (syn. n.). Wingelmüller, 1914: 233; 1937: 216. Caldara, 2013: 124. Alonso-Zarazaga et al., 2017: 186.

Type locality. Kozica ( Croatia) .

Type series. The species was described from “Dalmatia”. In coll. Germar ( MLUH), under the name ungulatus , there is no specimen corresponding to the original description but several other different Cionus species. The type specimen was obviously lost (K. Schneider pers. comm.). Therefore, in order to fix the taxon, especially with regard to its similarity to C. balianii , we decided to designate the neotype of Cionus ungulatus Germar, 1821 as currently understood. We designated a male labeled “ CROATIA mer. DALMATIA Michael Košťál leg. / Kozica 350 m N 43°15.5’ E 17°13.2’ 18.vi.2016 / NEOTYPUS Cionus ungulatus Germar / M.Košťál et R.Caldara des. 2016 [printed red label]” as the neotype. The specimen is 4.16 mm long, perfectly preserved, with dissected genitalia in glycerin. It is deposited in coll. Germar ( MLUH).

Synonyms. Cionus costipennis was described based on a single specimen from southern Croatia. The original description as well as the locality correspond well to those of C. ungulatus . However, Schultze (1899) did not mention very long anterior onychia in a male. Therefore, he highly probably described a female. We had no opportunity to study the type specimen, hence, we followed the opinion of Reitter (1904) that C. costipennis is a junior synonym of C. ungulatus .

Redescription. Male. Body medium stout, suboval. Head: rostrum moderately stout, medium long (l/ w 4.4, Rl/Pl 1.01), black to blackish brown, slightly lighter in apical part; in lateral view slightly evenly curved, same width from base to shortly before apex; in dorsal view very slightly broadened to antennal insertion, then parallel-sided, in basal half moderately laterally constricted, in distal part beyond antennal insertion moderately dorsoventrally flattened; in basal half evenly covered with recumbent to subrecumbent, backwardly oriented, yellowish elongate scales, in distal part with forwardly oriented, whitish long seta-like scales, and small bare shiny median apical area, scales at midline shortly before antennal insertion sparse or missing giving impression of thin indistinct carina. Head between eyes narrow, of about 0.4 rostrum width at base. Eyes large, not protruding from head outline. Antennae including club completely reddish brown, inserted at 0.7 of rostrum length; funicle of about 0.7 scape length, segment 1 slightly wider than, and as long as segment 2, segment 2 more than 2.5 × as long as wide, segment 3 slightly longer as wide, segments 4–5 subquadrate; club oval, about 2.3 × as long as wide, of 0.9 funicle length, semidensely covered with recumbent reddish-brown setae and sparse, erect, whitish long setae. Pronotum: dark brown, moderately wider than long (Pl/Pw 0.70), densely, sometimes almost confluently, punctured by evenly distributed, round punctures of various diameters; covered with relatively densely distributed, on disc forwardly oriented, recumbent to subrecumbent, long (l/w 6–8) yellowish to gingery scales; widest shortly beyond base, in basal half rounded, then conically narrowed to anterior margin, convex on disc. Prosternum: anterior margin with widely rounded, sharply deep incised emargination not reaching coxae. Scutellum: dark brown, subtriangular, evenly densely covered with backwardly oriented, reddish-brown and yellowish intermixed elongate scales. Elytra: brown, in their anterior 2/3 slightly rounded, in posterior third broadly rounded, moderately elongate (El/Ew 1.21), widest shortly before 1/3 of their length, at base markedly wider than pronotum (Ew/Pw 1.72), humeri prominent, rounded, with shallow posthumeral impression; slightly convex on disc; interstria 1 broadened and interstria 2 narrowed and constricted laterally shortly before 1/3 of medial length and before apex encompassing black tomentous dorsal and preapical round maculae with border of gingery scales, interstriae of approximately equal width; odd interstriae with evenly distributed, diffuse small patches formed by dark yellowish elongate scales alternating with blackish diffuse patches of recumbent black scales, interstriae, especially at elytral base convex; striae shallow, formed by large deep punctures, stria 5 at humeri more deep than other striae; entire surface, especially even interstriae, covered with subrecumbent, backwardly oriented, tiny whitish seta-like scales (l/w 5–8), yellowish elongate scales similar to those covering pronotum clustered on humeral base and in posthumeral part of elytra not forming striking yellow macula, scales concealing majority of integument. Venter: relatively densely covered with recumbent to suberect whitish setalike scales and elongate yellow scales, latter ones clustered in lateral ventral parts, especially on metepisternum, meso- and metasternum margins as well as on margins of ventrites 2–4; mesosternal process very short, incised at apex; metasternum almost flat, sparsely finely punctured with few tiny transverse ribs at posterior margin; ventrite 1 and anterior 3/4 of ventrite 2 with deep median impression densely covered with backwardly oriented, whitish long hairs; ventrite 1 twice as long as ventrite 2, ventrites 1–2 combined 4.7 × as long as ventrites 3–4 combined, ventrites 3–4 combined of 0.6 length of ventrite 5. Legs: brown; profemora with small sharp teeth, meso- and metafemora with large triangular sharp teeth; femora, tibiae and tarsomeres relatively densely covered with recumbent to suberect elongate scales, tibiae at lateral edges with suberect black seta-like scales, onychia covered with recumbent to suberect very narrow whitish hairs; protarsal onychia very long, 1.3 × as long as tarsomeres 1–3 combined; protarsal lateral and meso- and metatarsal medial claws small and short, in almost their entire length connate with their pair-claws, on protarsi appearing as small spines in mid-length of medial claw, on meso- and metatarsi of approximately half of pair-claw length. Penis: Figs 32 d–f, its body elongate, with dorsally bent apex.

Female. Rostrum longer (Rl/Pl 1.20), antennal insertion at 0.6 of rostrum length. Ventrites 1–2 without impression. Protarsal onychia short, of about 0.75 length of tarsomeres 1–3 combined. Claws less unequally long.

Variability. Length ♂♂ 3.64–4.15 mm, ♀♀ 3.84–4.22 mm. Cionus ungulatus shows minor variability. In some specimens, the yellow patches on elytra are less distinct to almost indistinct, sometimes the dorsal macula is longi- tudinally subrotund. Sometimes, the differences in habitus of specimens collected in the same locality seem particularly pronounced, but they are actually caused by the different level of abrasion of their vestiture.

Diagnosis. This species is characterised by small body size, vaulted interstriae, rounded and convex pronotum, which is densely covered (in fresh specimens) with yellowish scales in both sexes, and by long onychia and dorsally bent apex of penis in males.

Comparative notes. Among species of the group, C. ungulatus is characterised mainly by the dorsally bent apex of body of penis. The most closely related species, C. balianii , differs by its sharply pointed, straight apex of body of penis, and on average shorter protarsal onychia in males.

Biological notes. Scrophularia canina is generally reported as a host plant ( Wingelmüller, 1937). This author reported also Verbascum lychnitis , which seems improbable, because all other species of the group live on Scrophu- laria spp. The first author collected series of this species in Albania at the gravel torrent bank at elevations from 550 m to 1,100 m a. s. l. on Scrophularia species of S. canina -complex, and of the same plant group in Bosnia and Croatia at lower elevations.

Distribution. This species is widely distributed in the western Balkans: Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia. The occurrence in Greece requires confirmation due to the possibility of confusing this species with C. balianii .

Non-type specimens examined. We examined more than 150 specimens from the above mentioned countries. The only specimen from Serbia, a male, comes from Niš ( SMDEI).

Figures

FIGURES 31–32. FIGURE 31. Cionus wanati. a: body in dorsal view (male), b: body in lateral view (male), c: rostrum in lateral view (female), d: penis in ventral view, e: penis in lateral view, f: apex of penis in dorsal view. Not to scale. FIGURE 32. Cionus ungulatus. a: body in dorsal view (male), b: body in lateral view (male), c: rostrum in lateral view (female), d: penis in ventral view, e: penis in lateral view, f: apex of penis in dorsal view. Not to scale.